"The Grand Horror" review

The Grand Horror (2007)

Directed by: MaT

Writing Credits: MaT

Starring: A bunch of University of Nebraska students

I was sent this DVD screener. It makes me feel important when I get sent movies. This one was actually sent through MySpace which is a first for me. But does it influence the review when you get the movie for free? In my case, I don’t think so. I’ve bashed movies guys have sent me. They’ve even included letters with the movies explaining some of the shortcomings and asking for a fair, (merciful), review. My thought there is, don’t send the movie if you can’t handle criticism. I’m not seduced by a free movie. Of course I’ve never heard from most of those guys again. Maybe we’re all better off that way.

You might think I’m building up to a bashing of “The Grand Horror”. But believe it or not, it wasn’t that bad. Repetitive and a little bit monotonous but I’ve seen worse. A bunch of University of Nebraska students got together over a couple of weekends and made their zombie flick. Apparently they got a deal to film in the coolest movie theater in Nebraska so they jumped at it. I’ve never been to Nebraska so I’ll take their word on the coolness of the Grand Theater.

So a bunch of friends are running from zombies and end up in the coolest theater in Nebraska. They spend the rest of the movie wandering the theater in search of food, booze and places to hide from zombies. But there is an early warning system associated with the zombies which can alert would-be victims to their presence. Whenever the zombie is about to strike, plastic drop cloth is laid on the floor. The zombie is a neat freak who doesn’t like to spray blood and guts everywhere. It helps him wrap up his dinner at the end anyway.

I think the best thing you can say about “The Grand Horror” is that it shows promise. It follows the B-movie playbook by placing all the action in one setting so the monsters don’t have to travel too far to kill the cast. It also has a lot of scenes with guys with flashlights checking out the same hallway over and over. Nothing says filler like guys stumbling around with flashlights. But for what it was, “The Grand Horror” was a decent exercise in zombie horror.

SCORE: 2 out of 4 Nebraska zombies